Commuter train strikes car stuck on tracks

Tuesday

Nov 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

FRENCH CAMP - A commuter train traveling at nearly 80 mph in foggy conditions plowed into a car south of Stockton on Monday morning, pushing the empty vehicle about a quarter-mile down the tracks and spraying nearby parked cars with debris.

The Record

FRENCH CAMP - A commuter train traveling at nearly 80 mph in foggy conditions plowed into a car south of Stockton on Monday morning, pushing the empty vehicle about a quarter-mile down the tracks and spraying nearby parked cars with debris.

Nobody around the crash site nor the 37 people aboard the San Jose-bound train were harmed, according to rail and law enforcement officials.

The visibility in the fog was about 300 feet when the collision occurred shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, but why the 2000 Toyota Corolla was in the path of the Altamont Corridor Express train was not certain, California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer James Smith said.

A 50-year-old man driving the Toyota south on McKinley Avenue had veered onto the railroad tracks north of Industrial Drive for an unknown reason. There was no evidence that another car was involved, Smith said. The car got stuck on the track, and the driver got out of the car, he said.

A few minutes later, the train struck the car, he said. It kicked up rocks that flew into a nearby parking lot and damaged eight cars.